As mentioned here a number of times before, Francis M. Cockrell's famed 1st Missouri Brigade was the only Confederate Missouri infantry to serve east of the Mississippi River and made quite a name for themselves throughout the Western Theater. However, there were a number of lesser-known C.S. Missouri artillery batteries that also saw service east of the river. One of those was Hiram Bledsoe's Missouri Battery which, like many C.S. Missouri units, had started in the Missouri State Guard and later transferred to Confederate service. Bledsoe's Battery had a combat record stretching from Carthage, Mo., in 1861 to the Tennessee Campaign in 1864. It was known as perhaps one of the best batteries in the State Guard and the Army of Tennessee.
Hiram M. Bledsoe Jr.
Hiram Miller "Old Hi" Bledsoe Jr. was born in Bourbon County, Ky., April 25, 1825; though he later moved to Lafayette County, Mo., with his parents in 1839. In 1846 Bledsoe enlisted in Col. Alexander Doniphan's 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers, seeing action in the battles of Brazito and Sacramento during the Mexican War. After returning to Missouri he was engaged in farming until the outbreak of the Civil War, soon after recruiting his battery, the Lexington Light Artillery.
As Missouri artilleryman Joseph A. Wilson of Lexington put it, "His [Bledsoe's] company—composed of boys from his old home, toughs from the cities, polished gentlemen, scholars, farmers, merchants, boatmen, bull whackers, from North, South, East, West—required firm, judicious management. But Bledsoe was equal to the task. He could be kind andsociable, yet maintain his authority, and all his men were attached to him. In the presence of his superior officers he wasdignified and courteous, without servility. In his society you felt the presence of a gentleman—a gentle man."
The following history of the battery is from Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865 by James E. McGhee, slightly edited:
[1] Bledsoe's Battery was probably best known for Old Sacramento - a legend in the Missouri State Guard. It was captured by Col. Alexander Doniphan's 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers (in which Hiram Bledsoe served) in the Battle of Sacramento River, Feb. 28, 1847, during the Mexican War. It was said to have been cast from church bells at Chihuahau, using bronze and silver in its construction. Before the war the gun was reportedly used for Fourth of July salutes in Lexington.
As to what later happened to Old Sacramento, according to one account (Here) the artillery piece was used throughout the battery's MSG service, but after they crossed the Mississippi River and transferred to Confederate service in 1862 it was then stored in Memphis, Tenn. Unfortunately, it was later sent to Selma, Ala., where it was melted down and recast.
[2] Bledsoe had been wounded at Dry Wood Creek - the battery temporarily commanded by Capt. Emmett MacDonald during his absence - but later returned to his post during the last few days of the Siege of Lexington and was said to have commanded the battery from a rocking chair.
Returning to Lexington after the war, Bledsoe married in 1869 and settled on a farm in Pleasant Hill, Mo. He served several terms on the Cass County Court, as county collector, and was elected to the Missouri State Senate. Bledsoe died at his home in Pleasant Hill, Mo., February 7, 1899, and is buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery there.
Hiram M. Bledsoe Jr.
Hiram Miller "Old Hi" Bledsoe Jr. was born in Bourbon County, Ky., April 25, 1825; though he later moved to Lafayette County, Mo., with his parents in 1839. In 1846 Bledsoe enlisted in Col. Alexander Doniphan's 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers, seeing action in the battles of Brazito and Sacramento during the Mexican War. After returning to Missouri he was engaged in farming until the outbreak of the Civil War, soon after recruiting his battery, the Lexington Light Artillery.
As Missouri artilleryman Joseph A. Wilson of Lexington put it, "His [Bledsoe's] company—composed of boys from his old home, toughs from the cities, polished gentlemen, scholars, farmers, merchants, boatmen, bull whackers, from North, South, East, West—required firm, judicious management. But Bledsoe was equal to the task. He could be kind andsociable, yet maintain his authority, and all his men were attached to him. In the presence of his superior officers he wasdignified and courteous, without servility. In his society you felt the presence of a gentleman—a gentle man."
The following history of the battery is from Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865 by James E. McGhee, slightly edited:
This battery originated as the "Lexington Light Artillery," a unit of the 8th Division, Missouri State Guard. Bledsoe recruited the battery, one of the most storied outfits of the Guard, in Lafayette County in May 1861. The unit served at the skirmish at Rock Creek, Jackson County, on June 13. The battery formally mustered into state service on June 16 at Lexington.
The company's initial armament consisted of one 6-pounder smoothbore manufactured at the Morrison Foundry in Lexington and a 9-pounder smoothbore known as "Old Sacramento" that had been captured in the Mexican War. This latter piece, eventually converted into a 12-pounder, had a distinctive and recognizable ringing sound when discharged [1].
At some point the battery absorbed the "Independence Light Artillery," adding one 6-pounder Model 1841 field gun, called the "Black *****" by Bledsoe's cannoneers, that had been seized at the United States arsenal at Liberty before the outbreak of hostilities. Bledsoe's unit subsequently saw heavy action at Carthage and Wilson's Creek. A 6-pounder Model 1841 field gun captured from Colonel Franz Sigel's Union command at Wilson's Creek completed the battery's artillery complement.
The battery subsequently saw combat at Dry Wood, the siege of Lexington [2], and finally at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Bledsoe's Battery, commanded by Lieutenant Charles W. Higgins, deployed near Elkhorn Tavern on March 7-8, 1862, providing counterbattery fire and infantry support, losing 4 men wounded in two days of conflict.
Some weeks following the Pea Ridge defeat, Bledsoe and his men crossed the Mississippi River to Memphis with the Army of the West. The battery transferred to Confederate service about April 21 at Memphis, at which time the artillerymen of Captain Francis M. Tull's Missouri State Guard battery joined the company. On May 5, the battery mustered at Corinth, Mississippi, with merely 53 soldiers present for duty. The battery composed part of an ambush on September 20 that blunted Federal pursuit following the Confederate retreat from Iuka. The battery served with Brigadier General John C. Moore's infantry brigade, Brigadier General Dabney H. Maury's division, at the battle of Corinth on October 3-4, where it lost 1 wounded and 1 missing.
A section of the battery skirmished with Federal troops at Thomas's Plantation, Mississippi, on April 7, 1863. The battery then became part of Brigadier General John Gregg's infantry brigade and briefly served at Port Hudson, Louisiana. Bledsoe's Battery, the only Confederate artillery on the field, supported Gregg's brigade at Raymond on May 12 and lost an iron piece that burst from heavy firing. Two days later, as part of General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Relief, the battery participated in the battle of Jackson but saw only light action.
The battery next fought at Chickamauga, again in support of Gregg's brigade. Armed with two 3-inch ordnance rifled guns and two 12-pounder howitzers, it fired 125 rounds on September 19, silencing a Federal battery [the Chicago Board of Trade Battery] and receiving compliments for its "very efficient and important service throughout the day." The battery suffered known losses of 1 killed and 1 wounded in the battle, leaving 4 officers and 67 men available for duty.
On November 4, 1863, the battery received four new 12-pounder Napoleon guns. It engaged in considerable combat during the siege of Chattanooga, losing its guns at the Missionary Ridge disaster on November 25, along with 2 soldiers killed and an unknown number wounded. Bledsoe's artillerymen, rearmed with four Napoleons, fought throughout the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, experiencing hard fighting at Resaca during May 13-16 and at Kennesaw Mountain on June 27. Bledsoe's company suffered casualties of 4 killed, 24 wounded, and 1 missing during the extended campaign (May—September).
The battery accompanied General John Bell Hood's army into Tennessee in the fall of 1864. The Missourians took part in the Confederate debacle in front of Nashville and served in the rear guard as the army reeled in retreat. At Franklin, Tennessee, on December 16, Bledsoe's cannoneers checked Major General James H. Wilson's cavalry command by firing their guns down Front Street and permitted the escape of Brigadier General Randall Gibson's Louisiana brigade from imminent capture. The battery suffered losses of 1 wounded and 3 missing during the retreat from Nashville.
Bledsoe's Battery did not accompany the Army of Tennessee to North Carolina but finished the war in Georgia. Most battery members surrendered at Augusta, Georgia, on May 1,1865, and received paroles at Nashville two weeks later. During the war Bledsoe's Battery had an enrollment of some 150 men. Known losses are 8 killed or mortally wounded in battle, 2 killed by accident, and 5 men lost to disease.
[1] Bledsoe's Battery was probably best known for Old Sacramento - a legend in the Missouri State Guard. It was captured by Col. Alexander Doniphan's 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers (in which Hiram Bledsoe served) in the Battle of Sacramento River, Feb. 28, 1847, during the Mexican War. It was said to have been cast from church bells at Chihuahau, using bronze and silver in its construction. Before the war the gun was reportedly used for Fourth of July salutes in Lexington.
As to what later happened to Old Sacramento, according to one account (Here) the artillery piece was used throughout the battery's MSG service, but after they crossed the Mississippi River and transferred to Confederate service in 1862 it was then stored in Memphis, Tenn. Unfortunately, it was later sent to Selma, Ala., where it was melted down and recast.
[2] Bledsoe had been wounded at Dry Wood Creek - the battery temporarily commanded by Capt. Emmett MacDonald during his absence - but later returned to his post during the last few days of the Siege of Lexington and was said to have commanded the battery from a rocking chair.
Returning to Lexington after the war, Bledsoe married in 1869 and settled on a farm in Pleasant Hill, Mo. He served several terms on the Cass County Court, as county collector, and was elected to the Missouri State Senate. Bledsoe died at his home in Pleasant Hill, Mo., February 7, 1899, and is buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery there.
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